Til We Have Faces

Recently, my friend posted a facebook status asking, “What makes a godly woman?” Normally, I stick to only commenting on how cute my friends’ babies are on the internet while avoiding anything that could be even slightly divisive. But, for some reason, I commented this amidst the myriad of other opinions: “Have you ever read Til We Have Faces by CS Lewis? I think it’s a lot like that. The premise of our sanctification being connected to gaining our “faces” or becoming more “real” as humans. A godly woman is a “real” human being in integrity and holiness and earthiness as much as heavenliness.” Thankfully this comment didn’t seem to offend anyone since I hate confrontation, even if it be virtual.

My (and, I believe, my dear friend Karilyn’s favorite parts of the book is a consummate quote by a young girl sacrificed to the gods but found months later alive and well). “The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing—to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from—my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back” (C.S. Lewis Til We Have Faces).

In the Gospels, Jesus explains that his disciples don’t fast when he is with them, but will fast when he leaves in mourning and longing for him. To gain greater intimacy with their Messiah, millions of people willingly fast various things (particularly during Lent) to increase intimacy with their Savior. That “longing to reach the Mountain…[our] country, the place where [we] ought to have been born.”

Today in my bible study on Esther, we focused on Joel 2:12-17 and I went further to include Isaiah 58:6-12. All about true fasting (from and Old Testament perspective, granted). These Scriptures espouse the idea that in our abstinence should increase our almsgiving. So, if you’re fasting food, give food to those without, etc.. I’m fasting sacred and secular noise (for most parts of the day) so I have in turn been giving worship CDs and books to various people that I know. Verse 13 in the Joel passage particularly caught my eye, “‘And rend your heart and not your garments.’ Now return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting of evil” (Joel 2:13 NASB)

Jesus continually promised that to lose your life is to truly find it. In our intentional fasting and almsgiving, we are giving away and finding ourselves, all at the same time. Just like Psyche’s “death” and longing for the “true country,” her “true face” we long for the Promised Land found within the heart of Christ. The way we get there is not by increase but by decrease. That is why Lent is so important, for “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30 NASB). In losing our lives with Christ, we truly gain our faces and become real human beings.